Caro Feely’s series about her family’s experience building an organic vineyard, accommodation and wine school in France is available in good books stores and online in most countries. The Feely’s adventure started in 2005. Read the full story and experience what it is like to follow your dream and change your life.
Caro and Sean were confirmed city dwellers. They had safe jobs, a nice house and were living on M&S dinners. That all changed though when they had the opportunity to achieve their dream of becoming wine-makers in the South of France. In the blink they had sold their house, gathered up their children – a toddler and a babe-in-arms – and headed for Saussignac.
Arriving at their new home, a ten-hectare vineyard, the couple set about renovating the dilapidated eighteenth-century farmhouse and transforming the ‘beyond eccentric’ winery into a successful business. But while the journey from mouth to stomach of a fine red is pure velvet, the transition from city slickers to connoisseurs proved less smooth. Infestations, visits from the local farm ‘police’, a leaking roof and a lost finger were some of the challenges the family faced in their quest to learn how to make wine from the roots up.
Including evocative descriptions of wine and the wine-making process, Grape Expectations is travel writing with adventure at its heart. A passionate account of a captivating mission, this is essential reading not just for wine lovers, but for anyone who has ever longed to follow a dream.
